Jasprit Bumrah’s unconventional bowling action may result in serious lumbar injury, claims Dr Simon Feros

Bumrah has enjoyed a steady rise from just another promising young bowler to the top-ranked ODI bowler in the world. After impressing with IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians, Bumrah was fast-tracked into the senior Indian team and made his Test debut during the series loss against South Africa last year.

The young lad from Gujarat has established himself as a central figure in the current Indian bowling attack under the leadership of Virat Kohli. However, Dr. Simon Feros who is a lecturer in functional anatomy/strength and conditioning sciences at Deakin University, opined that Bumrah’s unorthodox bowling action puts him at risk of sustaining a serious injury to his "lumbar vertebrae" in the near future.

"Bumrah tends to release the ball outside the line of the front foot. This means he can 'push' at the ball, usually resulting in an excellent in-swing delivery to a right hand batter.

"However, if he exceeds 45 degrees of trunk lateral flexion (which I think he may on some occasions), then this element of his action may pose some injury concerns to his lumbar vertebrae," Feros told TOI.

Feros and renowned physiotherapist John Gloster recently completed an extensive study on the 25-year old Indian pacer's bowling action. The lumbar vertebrae is made up of five vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis. While many other experts in the cricketing fraternity also felt that Bumrah will find it difficult to carry on for long without injury due to his unusual action, Feros and Gloster made some positive observations about India’s death-over specialist.

"In terms of pelvis and shoulder segment alignment in back foot contact, delivery stride, and back foot contact, Bumrah's action looks safe; he doesn't appear to place his spine under excessive torsional stress.

"His unique action allows him to deliver consistently the types of deliveries he possesses, particularly his yorker. The ability of Lasith Malinga to be so effective was in part due to his unusual action (making it often difficult to pick up the ball)," Gloster added.

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